Monday, August 25, 2008

Final Thoughts....Finally!

Dear Everyone,

I want to say thank you to all of you who have supported me throughout my mission trip to Uganda. It was an amazing time and it's hard to believe it's over, but all good things must come to an end. I am starting a new phase of my life (namely, starting my career!) and I am so excited to find out where God is taking me. I'll be applying for a position as a News Reporter in several markets and I'm excited to go and start working! I love reporting the news and I'm lucky enough to also be great at it, so things are coming together.

That said, it's been a week since I came home from Uganda and you can imagine I've had a lot on my mind. Adjusting has not been too difficult, but my perspective on things has certainly changed. What I loved most about Uganda was by far the relationships I made and the way that Ugandan's place such a high emphasis on relationships. I didn't use to be that way, but I can see clearly how that has to be a priority. As important as jobs are, as important as money can be, and as much as I want to be successful, we can't lose sight of what's most important. I'll miss everyone in Uganda dearly, but I know that God willing, I'll be back someday...hopefully sooner than later!

I don't have much more to say right now. I'm still taking a lot of things in and trying to see how I'm different. I feel like I'm diving right back in to the way things used to be, so I'm trying to focus on the future and trying not to forget everything I learned. It's hard though. But I love being an American and I realize the privileges I've been given that I have too often taken for granted. Third world countries will help you see that. But that's not enough, is it? As Americans, we should do something about that and not just "feel" different or just be thankful. Realize that we all have a whole lot more things than we think. Be aware of what you're spending your money on, and ask yourself if you have used everything God gave you to help someone else. We were made to have relationships with other people, so please reach out and help others. One simple way is to sponser a child, and you can do that through Juna Amagara Ministries (Amagara.org) or Compassion International. Try not to focus on yourself but on how you can love another person the way that God loves us.

This is probably my last post considering my trip is over and I'm already becoming a busy American again (some things will never be different :)

1 Timothy 4: 9-10

This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

Amen. Thank you to everyone. I love you and if you want to talk or find out more or whatever, than email me at mjw516@gmail.com.

Love, Matthew

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Gulu, Kabale, and so much more!

It's been a little while now since I last posted (big surprise, I know!) and unfortunately, this is only going to be a quick update. But here it is!

Two weeks ago we traveled to the north in Uganda and went to Gulu. You might have heard of the area thanks to the non-profit group, Invisible Children. For more than twenty years, Gulu and the north were victims of civil war and only a few years ago did it show signs of ending. Today, Gulu is a pretty safe area and children are finally able to play there again. There are MANY Inter-Displaced People's camps (IDP Camps) with hundereds of people still unable to go home because it's been destroyed, taken away, or they simply don't even know where their homes were anymore because it's been so long since they were there.
We were there to help the Baptist Church in Gulu and offer encouragement. I preached at a church in an IDP camp and told them the story of Joseph and how God allowed and even WANTED Joseph to suffer for a short time so that his faith would be proved, he would come out a stronger person, to show how mighty God is, and because, ultimately, God has a greater plan for us than we can ever imagine. The talk was an encouragement to them and I think they could identify very much with what God did with Joseph and how in the end, Joseph was blessed. It seems that Gulu is finally coming around after all these years of war. But they need your prayers that God would make them stronger and more faithful in the end and they would know that, despite hardship, God loves them so much. Pray, also, for the IDP Camps and that people would finally find themselves a place they can call home. And also pray for the government. There is so much corruption that it gets in the way of the rebuilding of Gulu and helping the people there.

Finally, this last weekend were in Kabale in the Southwest part of the country. We preached at about 10 high schools in 3 1/2 days. We were so busy and we were so tired, but so many people came to know Jesus or recomitted their lives to Him. God was so glorified. Samson, one of the guys living with me, got malaria and was actually in the hospital for those three days, but he is now recovering and doing well. After all the praise and worship was finished, I had the job of ministering to the new believers and telling them what it means to be a Christian. I tried to focus on three things (but no more because I didn't want to overload them): 1. That when you are saved it means you ARE saved and that you ARE going to heaven. John 3:16 tells us we will NOT perish, but HAVE eternal life, and Romans 10:9 says we are saved if we profess it with our words and BELIEVE in our hearts. 2. That we were put on this earth for the purpose of glorifying God. When the Fall happened, we were separated from God but when we are saved, we are making a decision to come back to Him and once again glorify Him through the way we live. Romans 12:1 says we should be living sacrifices to God. We must praise him through the way we live out our faith and love Him and others with all our hearts, mind, and strength. 3. Finally, Matthew 28:16-end tells us we should be sharing our faith and love for God and Jesus with other people and SHOW our faith by the way we live. Jesus also makes us a promise when we says "I will be with you to the very end of the age." We are never alone or abondoned by God anymore when we are a believer, but rather, even if we lose family and friends, Jesus promises to be there with us and love us. AMEN!

So that's what I've been doing. The whole point of ABIDE is to Disciple and Evangelise, and that's what we've been doing. Our relationship with God, as well, has been growing by leaps and bounds and I'm proud of all of us and the work we do...and we do it all for the glory of God, not ourselves. I am doing well...feeling great and not getting sick (another thing to be thankful for). I love being here but am also extremely ready to come home. That said, I will be coming home August 12, which is rapidly approaching! I love you all and miss you dearly. Thanks for the support and reading and most importantly, praying for me. Email me if you want to say hello!

-matt

Friday, June 20, 2008

Joseph and other thoughts...part two

Dear friends and family,

Things are going so well here. In the last week I have felt so much more at home here and like God truly had a purpose with bringing me here. The ABIDE team and I went to Bushenyi District (about a 2 hour drive from Mbarara where we live) and we shared the Gospel at five high schools and saw a few hundred people come to Christ or re-commit themselves. Praise God! We preached for two days and taught some great lessons, and I think God was truly glorified in the work we did.

I have also come to a peace about being here and feel comfortable and love where I am. I had been praying for that for a few weeks, and finally I feel truly committed to this work and focusing on God. I feel like God has led me in everything and there is certainly a reason why I am here. He is teaching me so much it's hard to even put down in words. There will just have to be a lot of individual sharing with all of you when I return :)

I also wanted to share a few thoughts and verses that I had lately. I had been troubled with God's plan for me over the last days, weeks, months and yes, even year and a half. I've wondered again and again what God has in store for me but I think I have come to a place of contentment, knowing that whatever the plan is, it's good because God is the one who planned it! God doesn't always reveal to us what he has in store, but we can be certain that it's good.
I shared the story of Joseph with the Juna Amagara children, and I was trying to encourage them with the idea that even though bad things can happen in our life (or what we think is a "bad" thing), God has a plan and can/will use it for good. Joseph, for instance, was thrown into jail by Potipher's wife, for a crime he didn't commit. Potipher's wife had lied to put him in jail. While in jail, he interprets the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker, and after interpreting, he tells the cupbearer to not forget him. But that cupbearer goes free, as Joseph said he would, but then forgets Joseph. In Genesis 41:1, it simply says "When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream." TWO YEARS. And the story continues. Can you imagine being in jail for two years for a crime you didn't commit? But God had a plan for Joseph. Pharaoh then had a dream, and the cupbearer remembered Joseph and Joseph interpreted his dream. Pharaoh then made Joseph the second-ranking official - only Pharaoh himself had more power than Joseph. It also says throughout Joseph's story that God loved Joseph and "the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did," (Gen. 39:23). Later, Joseph is restored to his family and forgives his brothers for the evil they committed. They had betrayed him, but he loved them in return. They sold him as a slave and wished for his death, but instead of hating them in return, he loved his brothers and told them plainly, "'Come close to me. I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing or reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God....Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.' And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them." Amen. Joseph loved the brothers that, at one time, hated him for being more loved by Jacob, their father. Yet Joseph loved his brothers and never cursed them, never hated them back, never even thought for a moment that God was against him. He trusted God and knew that one day, somehow, things would be better.

Psalm 66: 8-12 says:

Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.

God is the one who allows "bad" things to happen. He puts us into prison...but for a good purpose. He refines our faith and allows us to see how much he truly loves us. He allows Joseph's brothers to hate him and to sell him into slavery. But what they intended for harm, God used for his plan of good. So what, then, should we do?

1 Thess. 5: 16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Amen. I hope that is encouraging to you. It certainly was to me. And remember to be patient. Joseph was in prison for MORE than two years! Can you imagine? Most of us would have thought that God hated us or had forgotten us if we were in prison for two years for a crime we didn't commit. Yet Joseph praised God and waited...patiently. Some things don't happen overnight. But that doesn't mean God doesn't love you. Amen.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Back from Rwanda

I just got back in to Mbarara from a trip I took with some friends. This marks my half-way point so we took a quick trip to Kigali and then to the volcanoes and we also met the Batwa Tribe in Southwest Uganda. They are known because they are the shortest people in the world (avg height of about 4 feet) and because they killed Diane Fossey in the 80's. They lived in the same area as the Gorilla's until they were kicked out of their homes to make way for habitats for the Gorillas. NOw they are homeless and spread out, and they recieve little help from anyone. Its a tragic story. We went and took a few Bibles to them and encouraged them. They are Christians, and need your prayers. I hope to be able to help them more in the future, though right now I'm kind of limited in what I can do.

Times are hard here, though. I am missing everyone and feel like I'm missing out on a lot that's happening at home. Please be praying for me. It's hard, sometimes, to admit that we need help from others, but I need prayers and communication with people. I'm praying that I stay strong to do God's work while I am here. Thanks and love you all...also read Psalm 66. I'll explain more on it next time...

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Busy, busy, busy....AKA: sorry for the lack of posts!

Well, as you may have noticed, it's been 3 weeks since my last post! Holy cow...time flies!!! I apologize for the lack of posts for you all but the good news is that the reason for not updating you is because I am so busy. I've been really stressed lately and feeling homesick and have just felt burnt out and there is a constant cultural adjustment going on everyday (I'll discuss this more in my prayer requests!).

So either way, I've been busy. We are constantly learning and taking classes at ABIDE. I can see all of us (me, the new short-term missioner named Jake, and the Ugandans - Samson, Patrick, Obadiah, Mehdard, and Amos) becoming better and better disciples of Jesus. There is SO much to learn, in fact, that I fear we can't possibly retain it all. I'll mention another book we are reading called In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen. It's a very short book and an easy read, but there is a lot to take away from it. It's about the future of Christian Leadership and what a Christian Leader should look like. Interestingly, Nouwen is a Roman Catholic Priest and he works at a handicapped facility for the mentally disabled called L'Arche. I've loved reading it, especially since there is a stereotype in the U.S. about Catholics. Many people say that Catholics aren't Christians and I can't help but be disappointed when people say that, acting as if they have the authority to decide who is and isn't a Christian. I know plenty of protestants who don't always seem like Christians (and that includes myself). You have to judge a person's heart...but can you judge another person's heart?

Either way, Nouwen is a Christian and he says in the book, "I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant (i.e. die to oneself, or give up on the idea of being "cool and popular") and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. That is the way Jesus came to reveal God's love. The great message that we have to carry as ministers of God's Word and followers of Jesus is that God loves us not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love and has chosen us to proclaim that love as the true source of all human life." Amen.

I am also teaching a computer class here. I've been faced with the problem of trying to teach computers to the students when some have NEVER touched a computer. I had to start from the very beginning, giving a little history of the computer and then explaining the terms - such as hard drive, RAM, laptop, desktop, processor, programs, software, etc... . It's been a challenge, but now all of them have email addresses and most have facebook :)

So, that's my quick update this week. I also have MORE PICTURES!!! WOOHOO!!! These are pictures I uploaded (another vocabulary word!) onto facebook. They are pics of my house, yard, and rooms. If you don't remember, I live just outside of Mbarara in Southwest Uganda in a neighborhood called Nkokenjuro...good luck pronouncing that one! Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2183650&l=af38b&id=19226300

Thursday, May 1, 2008

PHOTOGRAPHS!!!

Hopefully this works, but I uploaded photos onto facebook and I wanted to share them with everyone who doesn't have facebook! So here is the link to some of the albums:

This album is from Kishanje in Southwest Uganda. It is just a few miles from the Rwanda/Congo border. I went there with Matt Kehn (the pastor at JAM and creator of the ABIDE Discipleship Program I'm helping to lead) just a few days after I arrived in Uganda. Kishanje is known for its large, rolling hills and its lush farmland. You can see from the pics how gorgeous it is.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2178677&l=b42e4&id=19226300


This next album is from my first safari! It was at Lake Mbaro, about 45 minutes outside of Mbarara where I live. Lake Mbaro is known for its zebra's and antellope. There are no lions in the park (much of the wildlife was killed off during the Idi Amine years), but plenty of wildlife to go around! Warthogs, birds, zebra's, antellope, and much more. The other people in the pictures are fellow missionaries.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2178540&l=61407&id=19226300

That's it! Enjoy!